Chrissie Wolfe speaks to Legal Cheek about what the future holds for ‘Law and Broader’

A personal injury solicitor who qualified two years ago is sharing her training contract wisdom through the medium of vlogging.

Chrissie Wolfe is a solicitor at Irwin Mitchell and the woman behind Law and Broader, or LAB, a YouTube channel she says is “aimed at law students or anyone trying to break into the legal profession who is interested in improving their employability”. Wolfe’s clips — filmed in her very rose gold apartment — are each about ten minutes long and cover everything from law fairs to effective time management. She tells Legal Cheek:

“I set up the channel completely independently of my work and I don’t expressly refer to my job or where I work in the videos so that there is no confusion about me expressing my own views. My line manager, who is a partner at the firm, has been extremely supportive and I advised him some time before I actually launched that I was planning it and he was very much behind the idea.”

Advice garnered from watching Wolfe’s videos includes: make sure you know your application inside out before a training contract interview, keep a professional attitude throughout (even in the waiting room), and err on the side of caution when deciding what to wear.

Wolfe says YouTubeing started as a weekend hobby, and she’s “already really pleased with how well the channel has been received”. She’s planning upcoming collaborations with a number of fellow legal professionals, including a barrister, a school friend who trained at the magic circle and a family friend who trained at a large London firm who has since gone in-house.

But even if you’re not a training contract-seeker hoping to take Wolfe’s advice, her own journey into law makes an interesting listen.

Home-educated by her mum until GCSE level, Wolfe hit a bump in the road when she didn’t do anywhere near as well as she had expected to at A-level. She studied biological sciences at the University of Birmingham harbouring ambitions to become a vet, before deciding to convert to law. Wolfe, who started her training in 2013 and her YouTube account in 2017, qualified into Irwin Mitchell’s international personal injury department and now specialises in claims arising from cosmetic surgery abroad.

For all the latest commercial awareness info, and advance notification of Legal Cheek's careers events:

44 Comments

Anonymous

Trumpenkrieg

Feb 23 2018 9:11am

Basic.

(38)(1)

Alice

Feb 23 2018 9:13am

Irwin Mitchell TC? No thanks.

(79)(9)

Amy - 6+PQE

Mar 1 2018 10:03am

With an attitude like that you won’t get far

(3)(3)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 9:23am

Amazing the people you get giving ‘advice’ on social media – like the “lawyers” on LinkedIn writing motivational updates about their fight to the top in the legal world, then it turns out they are a paralegal in King’s Lynn.

(88)(3)

Jane

Mar 1 2018 10:05am

Yet your post has no basis… she is an actual qualified solicitor…

(1)(4)

PEPE

Feb 23 2018 9:42am

This post has been removed because it breached Legal Cheek’s comments policy.

(8)(0)

Trumpenkrieg

Feb 23 2018 11:00am

Why is Pepe being censored? Pepe did nothing wrong. #FreePepe

(27)(2)

PEPE

Feb 23 2018 11:04am

THICC

(14)(2)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 11:55am

It is incredible how all the five non-normies of the legal profession gather here

(1)(7)

PEPE

Feb 23 2018 1:42pm

U OK HUN

(12)(0)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 9:46am

This post has been removed because it breached Legal Cheek’s comments policy.

(3)(0)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 9:46am

Good for her, not sure why there is so much negativity. May not be advice to you, but to some it will

(22)(8)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 10:03am

Sure, if your target market is anxiety ridden first year law students. Admittedly it’s a niche.

(18)(2)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 10:02am

She’s a PI lawyer at Irwin Mitchell. I can see why she has so much free time on her hands.

(65)(10)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 10:30pm

This post has been removed because it breached Legal Cheek’s comments policy.

(13)(2)

TomR

Mar 1 2018 10:09am

Really? really? They are potentially no.1 in the PI world. They have provided a fantastic service to many including me. I think someone is a little jealous of their standing.

TomR

Anonymous

This post has been removed because it breached Legal Cheek’s comments policy.

(0)(0)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 10:37am

Line manager lol

(23)(1)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 11:54am

This post has been removed because it breached Legal Cheek’s comments policy.

(1)(0)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 10:39am

Very impressive indeed.

(10)(11)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 10:44am

This post has been removed because it breached Legal Cheek’s comments policy.

(1)(2)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 11:43am

“Give me more attention!”

(35)(1)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 2:09pm

Can you really call someone that works at IM “a solicitor”?

(29)(9)

A real solicitor at IM

Mar 1 2018 10:10am

So where do you work anonymous?

(3)(1)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 2:49pm

Yet another narcissistic numpty. Why do they do it?

If she’s that keen on giving out such wisdom, perhaps she should become recruitment consultant.

(41)(1)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 3:44pm

How can you have an issue with an individuals hobby that involves assisting others with progressing their career from personal knowledge and experience, along side pursuing a career of their own? Sounds like you need a hobby pal.

(15)(19)

Sir David Nappy

Feb 23 2018 5:13pm

I’m sure that we have all got plenty of worthwhile hobbies that we all do – without screaming

“LOOK AT ME”

on t’internet.

(24)(5)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 3:30pm

This post has been removed because it breached Legal Cheek’s comments policy.

(8)(0)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 10:27pm

Senseless attention seeking drivel – don’t forget the make up tips which clearly fit the theme. I’ve just read the title law AND broader… I see *rolls eyes* perhaps change the title to law and make up tips 😉

(15)(3)

Anonymous

Feb 23 2018 11:37pm

Handful of views on the videos literally one step away from talking to yourself 👍🏻

(16)(2)

Anonymous

Feb 26 2018 7:24am

LOOOL

(0)(0)

Anonymous

Feb 24 2018 8:20am

Seems to be a lot of these egotistical “LOOK AT ME” personalities sprouting on LinkedIn. The Irwin Mitchell Birmingham office is a real breeding ground for them!

(25)(1)

Anonymous

Feb 24 2018 11:16am

Ohhhhh snappppp

(0)(0)

Anonymous

Feb 26 2018 6:17pm

Mans is lost for words and ting

(2)(0)

LL.D (Chicago)

Feb 24 2018 12:02pm

Looking forward to her Ambulance Chasing 101 course

(14)(2)

Anonymous

Feb 28 2018 4:38pm

Can’t see “put your fucking foot down and follow that ambulance” being made into 10 minutes of content, but I’ve been wrong before.

(2)(0)

Anonymous

Feb 24 2018 12:11pm

This post has been removed because it breached Legal Cheek’s comments policy.

(1)(0)

Anonymous

Feb 24 2018 7:40pm

Self serving nonsense

(11)(0)

Anonymous

Feb 26 2018 4:44pm

I’m not sure a PI slave at IM has done enough to offer advice to hoi polloi be honest, no matter how impressive her eyebrow.

(4)(0)

Anonymous

Feb 26 2018 4:46pm

This post has been removed because it breached Legal Cheek’s comments policy.